Gas retailer says prices will stay up

Is there anything one can do about the soaring price of gasoline? Is there any relief in sight?

Catharine Schaidle

Is there anything one can do about the soaring price of gasoline? Is there any relief in sight?

"In the short term, not much," Terry Beachler of Beachler's Servicenter told the South-West Kiwanis Club on Thursday.

"I think all energy prices are going to continue going up and I don't see it going away."

He said it is easy to blame the Saudis, the people who speculate in oil futures, or the auto manufacturers.

But, "There is no one individual who controls prices," he said.

Beachler, a retailer of BP gasoline, said there is no magic bullet in terms of any of the alternative fuels that are being explored. He described the country's ethanol policy as "a bunch of subsidies" that are in the billions and said "the science doesn't really support them."

Increasingly using corn harvests for ethanol production is pushing up food costs, and harnessing wind energy is not efficient either, he said. "On hot summer days with no wind blowing when you need it most, you still have to power up" the traditional energy sources.

Beachler subscribes to M. King Hubbert's noted "peak oil" theory, which predicts the world oil supply will peak and then decline even as future demand increases.

The theory, introduced in the mid-1950s, accurately predicted that the United States' oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. Younger people should plan for a less energy-intensive lifestyle, Beachler said, with the emphasis on all things lighter, smaller and closer.

"I think we're seeing the beginnings of it now," he said in comments made after his talk.

"You should drive lighter and smaller cars, live closer to the city and participate more in local activities," Beachler said. "I used to drive 300 miles to row my canoe. There is a river here."

The U.S. also could change its rigorous auto safety requirements to allow for the small, fuel-efficient "smart car" by Mercedes Benz or India's $2,500 bubble-shaped Tata Nano. The smart car gets 33 mpg in the city and 41 mpg on the highway, according to Popular Mechanics.

"The smaller cars are safe, but we here are convinced we can't be safe unless we are covered by a 4,000-pound car," Beachler said.

Catharine Schaidle can be reached at (309) 686-3290 or cschaidle@pjstar.com.